MEA June 2017

24 MEA MARKETS / JUNE 2017 , The naturally independent, success-oriented Niousha Ehsan, co-founded LINKVIVA – a two men operation in 2003 – in her early 20s. As winner of the exclusive CEO of the Year - United Arab Emirates award, we took the opportunity to interview the women at the helmof the firm to find out more about her inspirational work in the company. A Woman at the Helm While studying business management at school, Niousha Ehsan had the dream of turning her new venture into a leading event management firm in the Middle East. Fast forward to 2017 and LINKVIVA is now among the top 50 event companies in the world, in the top 40 SMEs in the UAE and is the winner of the Great Places to Work award. Today, Niousha’s amazing team serves some of the biggest international brands, such as 3M, Canon, Nestle, Lenovo, Emaar, DP World, JAFZA, and Etisalat, delivering unmatched experience across the board. Niousha Ehsan sums up the notion of success and details her own personal development and achievements, as the interview begins. “For me, success is summed up in one word: Experience. Guaranteeing positive, long- lasting experiences for my clients and team is the guiding principle to how I will lead LINKVIVA in the future. That is why in LINKVIVA vocabulary, ROI has been replaced with ROE, i.e. ‘return on experience’. “I also believe that personal development is an inseparable part of the journey. To serve my team and community even better, I became a Certified Life Coach® and NLP Coach®. I regularly share highlights of my journey as a keynote speaker in various events and as a coach. “I was recently recognised among Top 50 GCC Women Leaders. For me, empowering and creating platforms of growth for women to succeed is a matter close to my heart. I work tirelessly in the community and educate young women to become successful leaders and make the world a better place.” Niousha is keen to give more background to the firm, the nature of their client base and what marks them out as the best possible option for those they serve. “Founded in 2003, LINKVIVA is a live communication agency, that has evolved from humble beginnings, into a leading agency in the Middle East. We strive for precision in design and event delivery, through the relentless pursuit of innovation and creativity. “Stellar testimonials from our happy clients keep us going forward at full throttle. In 2016, client loyalty was at 95%, we received 92% quality score from our clients and 80% of our business came from referrals. We are recognised as one of the top 50 event companies in the world. The firm has been enjoying regional and international recognitions for the past few years. We were awarded as great place to work and ranked among the top 40 SMEs in the country. We serve a wide variety of multinational and local firms in the FMCG, technology, retail, fashion, sports and automobile sectors, as well the government. “In terms of our approach, LINKVIVA is highly process driven. Having streamlined our internal and external processes, the team can deliver stellar work with maximum effectiveness and efficiency. “We measure success accurately and document lessons-learned. Thus, consistent quality work is always delivered. We use strategy as our foundation of creative and innovation to deliver measurable results for our clients. The goal of every project is to guarantee tangible strategic ROI for the client. We get there by designing and delivering an event that maximises ROE (‘return on experience’) for the target audience of our client.” Niousha is keen to share with us her additional thoughts on the firm’s approach in terms of human psychology, their in- house resources and how they view their competitors. 1612ME02 “To truly connect with human psychology, you need to connect with all five senses. We ensure that every idea considers, what people will touch, see, hear, smell and taste, plus how that will impact the event experience. “We have created a reliable in- house backbone that combines human resources, technology and infrastructure in a productive way, in which all resources complement each other and work towards a common goal: Getting the work done flawlessly. “In our fully equipped 12,000 ft 2 office, dedicated departments for strategy, innovation, production,